Tuesday, May 23, 2017

The
invaluable Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) under
direction of founder/music
director Charles Dickerson’s first performance at Getty Museum-Harold
M. Williams Auditorium-is guilty of ‘Sins of Omission’. Ron Hartwig,
Getty Vice President of Communications, is a current ICYOLA board member
and he appropriately invited ICYOLA to perform
classical genre in conjunction with the exhibition Berlin/Los Angeles: Space for Music “Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Berlin and Los Angeles sister-city partnership, the exhibition
explores connections between Hans Scharoun’s Berlin Philharmonic and Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Getty exhibit was closed at conclusion of concert and I was unable to personally visit the exhibit.

The
ICYOLA has the unparalleled distinction of being the only African
American founded organization
to annually (eight consecutive years) present at Disney Concert Hall.
As best I know, they are the only African American founded organization
to EVER present at the iconic Disney Concert Hall.

Most
of the ICYOLA Getty concert program was devoted to German composers
Bach, Handel and Mozart
but also included Italian composer Ennio Morricone, Norwegian composer
Edvard Grieg, and American composer John Williams. The loquacious
Charles Dickerson was picturesque in sharing incites about featured
composers, but did not mention a single African American
during the entire 90+ minute program.

Former
ICYOLA concert master and current Long Beach City College student
Jordan Busa was violin
soloist for Theme from Schindler’s List. Inclusion of the contemporary
film score begged the question of Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympic
Games. Jesse Owens is the subject of two movies.

African
American composer William Grant Still lived in Los Angeles. His music
was internationally
performed by the Berlin Symphony. William Grant Still “La Guiablesse”
CD was recorded by the Berlin Symphony under baton of African American
conductor Isaiah Allen Jackson.

African American architect
Paul Williams was born
in Los Angeles and attended USC. This year, the American Institute of
Architecture posthumously awarded Paul Williams the 2017 AIA Gold Medal.

The scope of contemporary classical music achievements by African Americans in Berlin will exceed
your availability of time and perhaps interest, but please permit me to share a favorite story. During a tour of Germany in 1923, African American concert singer Roland Hayes
faced a protest in Berlin.A
newspaper writer criticized him as “an American Negro who has come to
Berlin to defile the name of the German poets and composers.The night
of the concert Roland Hayes faced an angry audience who mocked him for 10 minutes.” While standing there, “Roland Hayes
signaled his accompanist to change the order of the program. He began to sing “Du bist die Ruh,” which was one of the favoriteliederof
the German people at that time. He sang it so beautifully, they stopped
hissing and started listening.” “The greatest sign of approval at that
time was the pounding of walking sticks, which all the gentlemen
carried, on the floor. So halfway through the song,
the pounding of the sticks started. There was so much noise, that by
the time he reached the last note, it couldn't even be heard, because
the audience was up on their feet already. And after that, he quietly
continued with the rest of the program.”

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Thank you John for such a wonderful piece on the local ensemble and history!